I have figured out that the paint on the Mini is either very weak, thin or both as I have many rock chips already on my 4000 mile old car! I used some official Mini touch up paint on the chips (which looks darker after drying than the surrounding paint?). My question is this: after I apply the clear coat to the touch up, I know that I need to wet sand the raised area to make it flush. I did this with a friend who is a serious model builer about 10 years ago with good results, but I can't remember what grit sand paper we used. What grit sandpaper should I use and what is a good polish to finish it off with?

After I get these chips resolved I'll be getting the clear bra installed!

Thanks for any tips!

 

You might look into this method: http://www.langka.com/. I used it on my bonnet chips and it works very well. Can't even really tell that I did any touch-up. Plus, didn't make me all nervous walking to the car holding sandpaper !!!

 

I use 2000 grit sanding block and follow up with ScratchX, but recently I wrapped a cotton T-shirt over a small block of wood and used ScratchX to "sand down" the lump of touchup with great results. Its less aggresive so try that first.

 

I remember reading in here someplacxe about a product that works more like a wax... You give the manufacturer your color code from your door sticker and they send you a multi-step product that you wipe on and buff off, that fills the scratch with the proper color. With that product you do not need to use touch-up paint - the product actually fills the scratch then hardens and the technique results in a smooth fininh... does anyone recall what product that is? I remember it lookd impressive as hell on their demo car (a rock-pinged Honda 2000 if I recall).

 

It's called Touchup123.com

We had a little discussion about it recently
http://www.showcargarage.com/forums/...read.php?t=410

 

Yep, that was it... That's the closest pic of the repair I've ever seen - somewhat dissapointing, btu then again, so is touch-up paint most of the time. The best look I've seen was simply wet sanding them down with a very fine grit paper, but if the chip's down all the way through the paint to the metal I think you're hosed either way... At that point, anything you do is merely damage control, isn't it?

 

Yep. The product seems like a good solution for quick repairs and anyone that isn't skilled at painting, wetsanding, and buffing. That includes me. I've done only minor repairs--been wanting to practice more, but the touchup blobs on my car are anything but exceptional.

Richard